Above: Boy Scouts rake leaves at the Beals Preserve
In the woodlands of Southborough’s Beals Preserve there are — not surprisingly — a lot of fallen leaves. But turns out there are even more leaves at the preserve than there should be.
Boy Scouts from Southborough Troop 92 spent Sunday afternoon working with the Southborough Open Land Foundation to clean up piles of leaves that had been dumped illegally at the preserve.
When I stopped by to take some photos of the work, SOLF members told me dumped leaves and other yard waste can cause problems for the ecosystem. Piles of leaves can smother native plants on the conservation land. Dumped yard waste can introduce foreign chemicals like the pesticides used to treat grass.
Dumping any kind of debris — including leaves and yard waste — on conservation land like the Beals Preserve is against state law. SOLF representatives said they would soon post “No Dumping” signs on the land they manage to help educate residents.
Better options for disposing of your yard waste include hiring a landscaper to haul the leaves away, starting a compost pile in your yard, or bringing unbagged leaves and other yard waste to the Transfer Station (disposal guide here).
Susan,
Thank you for writing about this. Yard debris is “a terrible thing to waste”! Instead of hauling it and dumping it somewhere else, make a compost pile in a corner of your own property. In a just a few years, yard waste become nutrient rich compost! I have a compost bin for all non-meat kitchen scraps, grass clippings, weeds etc. Brush gets broken down more slowly but is then used as mulch around shrubs or I burn it in the late winter. Its all good! I think every yard should have a bit of woods, In the back for nature and compost and in the front for a pleasing visual effect instead of just lawn.